Actually the 2001 and Lubitsch set were swaps I made with Comrade K, the Brooklyn Brahman, but they arrived just before the big day, so I’m including them. The Nick Ray films came from my folks, who are superb people. One doesn’t like to brag, but I think I exercised superb judgement in arranging to be born to such a couple.

The DVD of THEY LIVE BY NIGHT (LES AMANTS DE LA NUIT to the French, a pretty good alternative title, although reverting to the original THIEVES LIKE US might have been an idea too) comes complete with I’M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF, a terrific documentary on Ray as he shoots his final feature (discounting as one surely must Wim Wenders’s NICK’S MOVIE/LIGHTNING OVER WATER) WE CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN. And to add to the sense of a Nick Ray festival chez Shadowplay, I recently acquired a copy of WE CAN’T GO, as well as two edits of THE JANITOR, Ray’s late-period short made for the porno-art anthology film WET DREAMS. Which should make an interesting posting for the forthcoming Sexy Week here at Shadowplay.